1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hand held cleaners and, more particularly, relates to a hand held cleaner having a swiveling or turnable nozzle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the last decade, the sale of hand held cleaners has boomed, engendering many different competing models by a host of manufacturers, all in an attempt to secure a profitable niche in the marketplace. In this effort a variety of units have been produced, ranging from straight air, to driven agitator, to wet/dry pick up units, with some powered by house current and some by battery. Most of these hand held cleaners are advertised with some professed advantage over all the rest but all are somewhat cumbersome and appear to suffer from the statics arrangement of the nozzle and the resulting interference with the easy cleanability of corners and narrow spaces.
It is known in the prior art (U.S. Pat. No. 2,395,430, issued Feb. 26, 1946) to attempt to overcome this problem by providing easy nozzle accessibility to confined areas with the use of a swinging or swiveling nozzle that is capable of moving from the standardized nozzle position, essentially, at right angles to the main body of the hand held cleaner to a position parallel to and axially centered on this main body. But the hand held cleaner of this patent provides, for example, a latch that does not appear to be particularly secure or to meld itself into the general outline of the hand held cleaner in an ergonomic location, nor does the hand held cleaner of this patent offset the nozzle pivot to limit belt movement on the shaft nor is the agitator pulley offset to accommodates belt twist in the normal position of the nozzle nor does it provide a simplified, easily assembled latch and secure simplified pivot mounting for the nozzle.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved and refined and, thereby, marketable hand held cleaner having the important attribute of a swivelable or swinging nozzle.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved latch for a swinging nozzle of a hand held cleaner.
It is an additional object of the invention to mount a latch to be utilized as a part of the locking mechanism for the swinging nozzle on the nozzle, itself.
It is a further object of the invention to make this latch axially reciprocal for ease of operation and secure positioning of the nozzle.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide an easily mountable pivot arrangement between the nozzle and the hand held cleaner which is both simple and secure.
It is a further object of the invention to offset the nozzle pivot for this hand held cleaner relative to the agitator axial center line to limit its stretch and wear and to eliminate slippage of the belt from its drive shaft.
It is a still further object of the invention to offset the belt pulley crown to insure proper belt tracking in its twisted position.
It is an even further object of the invention to provide the swinging nozzle of a hand held cleaner with an inexpensive, durable and easily manufactured nozzle pivot.
It is a final object of the invention to provide a novel hand held cleaner having a swivelable nozzle which is easily manufactured and use.